Abstract
Objective: Diarrhea is a major global health issue that has become increasingly prevalent in developing countries. In Bangladesh, Mimosa pigra L. is used traditionally for the treatment of diarrhea and also to control infection. Our main objective was to evaluate whether the methanolic extract of Mimosa pigra (MEMP) leaves has the antidiarrheal effect as well as the antibacterial effect against diarrhea-causing bacteria. Methods: The antibacterial potentialities of MEMP leaves were investigated by the disc diffusion method against six Gram-positive and six Gram-negative bacteria at 500 μg/disc. Kanamycin (30 μg/disc) was used as the standard drug. Antidiarrheal activities of leaf extracts were determined at two doses (200 and 400 mg/kg) in a castor oil and magnesium sulfate-induced diarrheal model in mice. The results were evaluated by One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Dunnet’s test. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 were considered significant compared to control. Results: The MEMP leaves exhibited moderate to potent antimicrobial activity with the zone of inhibition range 11 to 17 mm against diarrhea causing bacteria such as Salmonella paratyphi (16.33 mm), Salmonella typhi (17 mm), Shigella boydii (12 mm), Shigella dysenteriae (12.67 mm) and Escherichia coli (11 mm). Furthermore the severity of diarrhea was significantly reduced (P<0.001) by MEMP leaves at a dose of 400 mg/kg (13±2.16) compared to control (30.25±2.87) by castor oil-induced method. The same dose of the extract also significantly inhibited (P<0.01) the severity of diarrhea (14.75±1.71) compared to control (24±2.16) by magnesium sulfate-induced diarrheal model. The percent inhibition of diarrhea in 3h by MEMP leaves at a dose of 400 mg/kg was 57.02% and 38.54% in castor oil and magnesium sulfate-induced diarrheal model, respectively. Conclusion: Confirmed findings in this study naturally suggested that MEMP leaves could be an effective antibacterial and antidiarrheal formulation.
Highlights
Diarrhea is generally defined as the passage of abnormally liquid or unformed stools associated with increased frequency of defecation and abdominal pain [1]
The result of preliminary phytochemical screening of the methanolic extract of Mimosa pigra (MEMP) leaves is presented in table 1 and it revealed that the extract contains flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenols, saponins, and tannins, whereas cardiac glycosides and sterols were absent
The results of the study showed that the MEMP produced a statistically significant reduction in the severity of diarrhea produced by castor oil and magnesium sulfate
Summary
Diarrhea is generally defined as the passage of abnormally liquid or unformed stools associated with increased frequency of defecation and abdominal pain [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), diarrhea is the second leading reason of death of children less than five years of age [3]. Despite reductions in morbidity and mortality worldwide, diarrhea still accounts for more than 2 million deaths of children less than 5 y of age annually and is associated with impaired physical and cognitive development in resource-limited countries [4, 5]. The common reason for causing diarrhea is gastrointestinal infection by various types of bacteria, virus, and parasites [7, 8]. This infection can be spread out through food, drinking water, and an unhygienic environment [9]. Along with improvements in living standards and health conditions, the incidence of parasite infections has decreased, with viruses and bacteria being predominantly responsible for acute diarrhea in children [8, 9]. In Bangladesh, Campylobacter, enteropathogenic E. coli, Shigella spp. and Salmonella spp were the most frequent probable contributors to acute diarrhea in children [13]
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